Part 3: WHAT AM I GOOD AT?

How smart am I?

And How can I find out?

(Here are some ways to do it; it’s more complicated, than this, of course, but this is a good introduction to the process.)

Here’s a short task. The Good/ Not Good exercise

People are usually much better at saying what they are not good at than what they are good at. I’m asking you to be excellent at recognizing what you are good at.

It’s also sometimes easier to figure out what you are not than what you are.

It might be

easier to determine what you don’t want than what you do.

you don’t know what you are until you know what you are not.

you won’t know what you want until you know what you don’t

Take out a piece of paper and on the left hand side at the top, write down GOOD AT. Then underneath the title, write down the things you think or feel that you good at. These can be anything from cooking to math, from sailing to chemistry. It doesn’t matter how big or small the thing is. It could be you know how to make a good spaghetti sauce, or knit, or learn computer skills fast. Really, it doesn’t matter what the thing is but give it a little thought! And be truthful. If you are good at something write it down! None of that hiding your light under bushels nonsense. This has to be accurate but it doesn’t have to be big!

Give yourself 5 minutes; use a timer. Number them down the left hand side of the page.

When the five minutes are up, move over to the top right hand of the page and write NOT GOOD AT. Then, write down the things you feel you are NOT good at. Use the same lines and numbers as before but use the right hand side of the page this time.

GOOD AT NOT GOOD AT

1.

2.

3.

5.

ETC..

If you are like most people, the things you feel you are NOT good at will outnumber the things you think you ARE good at. This will prove you are not aware of all your strengths!

Imagine how you will feel when you get to know yourself and find out all your hidden strengths, talents and abilities!

Please be free, creative, and truthful in this exercise. (This is one of the kinds of exercises you would perform in order to know yourself if you join me in my course: Secrets of Success Through Self-Knowledge about which, more later.

TWENTY-THREE QUESTIONS TO FIND YOUR SMARTS

There are only 23 questions in this quiz but they are specific and I hope the information you get will be extremely helpful.

The quiz will draw up to your mind what you might have forgotten (or never thought about) from your childhood with regard to interests, talents, gifts and smarts!

You will immediately see that other kinds of questions will present themselves to you to remind you of other gifts you might have missed or not followed up on.

I can help you with that later.

Be specific in all your answers.

We’ll start at the beginning, in childhood.

We’ll take sports and the arts to start the process.

(There are many other ways we could use to discover your ways of being smart—this is just a couple of topic examples to get you started.)

GENERAL QUESTIONS re your Strengths and Smarts

What did you love to do as a child?

What games did you like to play?

Children benefit from reading.

Did you like playing with friends?

Did you like playing alone? (Both can be true!)

SPORTS

Did you like sports or not?

Were you good at them or not?

Which sports did you play?

Which ones did you play well?

Which ones did you love even though you may not have excelled at them?

Why did you like them?

ARTS

Did you like Reading?

What arts did you like? Art (Painting, drawing sculpting)?

Music?

Acting?

Dancing?

Other arts?

Were you good at them or not?

Which ones did you love even though you may not have excelled at them?

Why did you like them?

WHAT QUESTIONS DO THESE QUESTIONS PROMPT IN YOUR MIND

These questions are the tip of the iceberg.

BONUS QUESTIONS:

Here are three more questions to discover your strengths and smarts.

Different ways of remembering strengths from your childhood.

What things did you do when you were young that you seemed to do better than most people?

What things did you do that people remarked on, saying you were good at such and such a thing? Better than most kids or anybody else?

What things did you do that came easily to you? You didn’t have to work at them (other kids did). Although when you did work at them or practiced them you were even better at them!

When you answer these questions you should have a different—better—view of yourself regarding the things you were good at (instead of the just the things you feel you are not good at).

At Self-Knowledge College, we cover the waterfront in terms of you getting to know you and showing you how to live a more successful life on your own terms.

To find out more about yourself and your talents, gifts and abilities, and strengths and how you can develop them and use them in your life, come to Self-Knowledge College.